Kushwaha is a son of Sukhlal Kushwaha, a former Member of Indian Parliament, who was elected to Lok Sabha, the lower house of Indian Parliament from Satna Lok Sabha constituency. He contested the Assembly elections of 2018 and was elected as Member of Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly from Satna Assembly constituency. In this election, he defeated three term MLA Shankarlal Tiwari. The Assembly constituency, from which he is elected is considered as an OBC stronghold and in order to reap the benefits of caste equation, he was nominated as the candidate of Indian National Congress for the Mayor elections in the last year of his tenure as legislative assembly member. Soon afterwards, the INC leadership made him president of Other Backward Class wing of the party for the state of Madhya Pradesh. It was believed by the political analysts that this was done in a bid to reward him for not changing his loyalty during the fall of Indian National Congress government in 2020 political crisis.[4][5][6]
Kushwaha is considered close to former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Kamal Nath. He was raised to the position of Other Backward Class wing of Madhya Pradesh Congress by replacing the Rajya Sabha member and veteran Congress leader, Rajmani Patel.[7] Earlier, in Assembly elections conducted in Raigaon Assembly constituency, Kushwaha was given charge of campaign to ensure the victory of INC candidate. He was reported to have played significant role in ensuring the victory of INC candidate from this constituency, which was, until then, considered as stronghold of Bharatiya Janata Party.[1]
In 2024 Lok Sabha Election Kushwaha lost by 84949 votes. BJP's Ganesh Singh defeated Kushwaha.[8][9]
Personal life
Kushwaha completed his bachelor's degree in 2007 from Government Swashasi College in Satna. He, besides being a politician, also runs a transport business.[10] He belongs to OBCKushwaha community.[11]